Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
What a
difference a week makes ! The ‘new’
Ankaragucu surprised us all last night with 3 well taken goals against a very
good Kasimpasa team, and in the process, moved out of the bottom 3 places in
the league.
ANKARAGUCU 3 Kasimpasa 0
Team – Altay,
Pazdan, Kulusic, Pinto, Kitsiou, Moke, Djedje, Scarione, Boyd, Sacko and
Orgill.
Substitutes used
– Sedat, Moulin and Ilhan
Maniac Kanka
Harun and I met up in The Anasson Bar and we played ‘spot the Turk’ game when
the teams were announced ! Our young
goalkeeper, Altay, was named Captain probably because he was the only Turk in
the team and he was the link between the players and the referee ! However, that will look good on his CV !!
It was looking
ominous for Ankaragucu in the first 30 minutes of the match with Kasimpasa
dominating proceedings and spraying the ball around at will. Ankaragucu was rocking and I sensed that it
was only a matter of time until they opened the scoring and swamped Ankaragucu.
Altay made some
crucial saves during this period and the defence had their backs against the
wall. Kasimpasa was breaking fast and
finding spare men in open space.
Then came what
proved to be a master decision by our Coach when he replaced Scorione with
Moulin and suddenly the midfield started to fire up.
In the 32nd
minute Kitsiou was put through with a telling pass, but with only the
goalkeeper to beat, his shot went just over the bar. One minute later, from a similar move,
Pazdan put Orgill through. He dragged
the ball around the goalkeeper’s frantic dive, and angled his shot in for the
opening goal against the run of play.
However, we were not complaining !!
The match was
more evenly contested now with Ankaragucu taking the game to Kasimpasa, but it
took a saving header from Kitsiou to prevent a goal on the half time whistle.
So, Ankaragucu
went in at half time one up rather fortuitously !
The 2nd
half was barely 30 seconds old when goal No2 came ! Sako
received a pass straight from the kick-off, he turned, looked up, and from about 30 yards out fired
in a shot to the top right with the goalkeeper clawing air ! An unbelievable way to re-start a match
and perhaps one for the Guinness Book of Records ??!!
5 minutes in and
Pinto went off injured (looked like he pulled a hamstring) and was replaced by
Sedat.
Kasimpasa was
far from finished as they continued to attack and look for a way back into the
match. Their No9 headed just over when
he should have done better. Kitsiou
made a saving tackle from a dangerous breakaway, and Kasimpasa’s Ilhan shot
just past the post.
15 minutes to go
and Boyd almost made it 3, but his fierce shot was just over the bar. 5 minutes later and the action was at the
other end when Altay made two crucial saves to deny Kasimpasa.
The icing on the
cake arrived 4 minutes before the end and it was a classic goal straight out of
the football manual and training ground.
A fast break on the left was cut back almost at the goal-line to the
unmarked Ilhan Parlak who side-footed the ball inside the near post with the
goalkeeper static. Who can blame Ilhan
for ‘milking the moment’ as he ended his goal drought by saluting the fans
behind the goal !!
Into time added
on and a great block from Boyd inside the box to prevent a consolation goal for
Kasimpasa.
A great fighting
display by Ankaragucu to play their way back into the match and score 3
excellent goals. The ‘new’ team were a
joy to watch at times and it was difficult to choose our Man of the Match. However, for his all round efforts, passing
and determination we nominated ............. Kitsiou. More to come from him I think ! I should also mention that I thought
Orgill up front is what we have been missing this season. A physically strong and speedy player who
didn’t give the Kasimpasa defence peace !!!
Next Saturday
afternoon Ankaragucu travel to play bottom club Akhisar, and if Ankaragucu can
replicate this type of performance, we can be optimistic of returning with all
3 points.
Bring it on !
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
First of all, great report, Jim!
ReplyDeleteI gotta confess that I was expecting the worse to come when I saw our line-up having only 3 players who didn't come to Ankara in January.
As you wrote, the first half-hour was not that good but after Scarione went off and especially after our first goal, the team looked extremely confident. It was good to taste this feeling again after 9 games in a row without it.
The MVP, imo, was Pazdan, he was imperial!
Vitória Kanka
Thanks for the report Jim
ReplyDeleteBrilliant performance from players, fans and manager. As mentioned by Miguel, after first half hour we really stepped things up and fair play to Mustafa Kaplan for the tactical change bringing Moulin on for Scarione as that changed the game.
So many contenders for MOTM with Pazdan and Kitsiou outstanding, Boyd, Orgill and Moke all putting in big performances. But Dejdje for me just nicked it, his work rate was incredible and he drove the team forward on every occasion while winning the ball back.
Special mention to our very own Altay for captaining the team at the age of 21
Jim Thanks for the report. I do believe that M.Kaplan was the man of match yesterday night with his first 2 change despite the second one was due to the injury . He strengthened the midfield by Moulin & sedat which totally changed the dominating side. Hope he continues similar in the next 13 matches. Volkan
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments guys.
ReplyDeleteOn reflection, I think we should just say ........ MEN of the Match after last night's performance !!!